The first meeting of the “Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan-Turkey” format is held in Tashkent

The first meeting of the "Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan-Turkey" dialogue format was held in Tashkent. The committee members, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mavlud Cavusoglu, the Minister of Trade of Turkey Mehmet Mush, the Minister of Transport and Trade Odil Karaismoiloglu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov, the Minister of Economy Mykoil Jabbarov, the Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashod Nabiyev, came to Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan's communication with two Turkic countries has been expanding over the past 5 years.  Trade turnover with Azerbaijan has increased by almost seven times, and with Turkey by two and a half times.

However, the high level of economic cooperation with Azerbaijan and Turkey still does not fully meet the potential of existing relations.  These issues were discussed at the meeting.

At the meeting of the foreign ministers of the three Turkic countries, which share a common history, language, and religion, the host - the acting minister of foreign affairs of Uzbekistan, Vladimir Norov, spoke first.  The speech was given in English.

"The establishment of the Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan-Turkey dialogue is more urgent than ever, taking into account the rapidly changing and abstract processes taking place in international relations and the global economy," - Norov said at the beginning of his speech.

He noted that all three countries have common approaches to many international issues, and support the same goal - the stable and consistent development of the Turkic world.

"In this regard, our countries, which play a leading role in their regions, can be the drivers of interregional cooperation," - Norov says.

He emphasized that the territories inhabited by Turkic peoples have served as transport and trade bridges between East and West, North and South for thousands of years.

"For this reason, the aspiration of our countries to develop interregional transport corridors is gaining urgent importance.  It is important for Uzbekistan to use the transit potential of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway," - says Norov.

At the same time, the head of the foreign office of Uzbekistan said that the technical and economic basis of the "China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan" railway construction project is being developed on 15-16 September of the current year in Samarkand and it is planned to sign a relevant tripartite document at the next SCO summit.

“We believe that connecting the "China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan" railway corridor with the Trans-Caucasus corridor will create a single transport network between our countries and expand the trade geography from China to Europe.  That's why Uzbekistan is interested in restoring the Zangezur corridor, which provides the shortest land route from Asia to Europe," - Foreign Affairs Minister Norov said.

Besides Norov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov also spoke in English at the meeting.  Only Minister of Transport Ilhom Mahkamov from the delegation of Uzbekistan spoke in Uzbek.  All members of the Turkish delegation spoke in Turkish.